Heroku, the platform-as-a-service provider that Salesforce.com acquired last year, has added Node.js to its existing Ruby offering as part of its new public beta called Celadon Cedar. Other new features include consolidated logging, real-time dynotype monitoring and instant roll-backs.
The first question asked at the post-acquisition press and analyst Q&A was how long it would be until Heroku/Salesforce.com had a Node.js PaaS. We now have our answer.
Heroku has been a popular choice among Ruby developers and its name has become practically synonymous with PaaS. But it faces increased competition in the PaaS marketplace with companies like RedHat and VMware bringing Ruby-capable PaaSes online.
There are also several existing Node.js PaaSes, including Nodejitsu, Nodester, NodeSocket and dotCloud (which recently acquired DuoStack).
Heroko experienced a stumble when it suffered from the Amazon Web Services outage while its major competitor Engine Yard managed to stay online.
In short, Heroku is in a strong position and the new beta brings several important new features, but has its work cut out for it.